PlayStation.Blog

Q&A: PS4 By the Numbers

Though the slimmer, lighter PS Vita — and its upcoming North American release — was squarely in the spotlight of this week’s PlayStation Showcase, PS4 wasn’t left behind. Today, I caught up with Sony Computer Entertainment America Marketing Vice President John Koller for a status check on PS4’s global rollout – an especially relevant topic, with the Japanese PS4 debut less than two weeks away.

PlayStation.Blog: Can you share any updates on PS4’s global sell-through?

John Koller: The response has been fantastic. In the US, PS4 was #1 in sales for next-gen consoles in January, nearly doubling the nearest next-gen competitor. And PS4 remains the cumulative leader here based on today’s report from the NPD Group.

Globally, we announced last month that we’ve sold through more than 4.2 million units as of the holiday season, making PS4’s launch the biggest in console gaming history. I think the PS4 demand is indicative of how we’ve tapped into something special – and that’s that gamers want to be recognized for their greatness and want to enjoy experiences together.

We’re looking forward to what 2014 has to offer, starting with inFAMOUS Second Son next month, Destiny in the fall and The Order 1886 later in the year . There will be lots more games to come too – more than 100 total in North America this year.

PSB: How’s the PS4 supply chain holding up to demand, especially with the Japanese launch in just a few weeks?

JK: Since we launched on November 15th, we’ve sold every PS4 available in the US. It’s clear that PS4 is seeing strong appeal all over the world, and we’ll continue doing our best to provide additional inventory in all of the 53 countries where PS4 is available. We’ve got supply refreshing throughout the channel regularly, so I encourage everyone to check in with their local retailers regularly.

JK: I’ve been a bit taken aback by the explosion of PlayStation Plus memberships, where we’ve seen more than 90% growth since PS4’s launch. Instant Game Collection is a big hit, with gamers sharing their experiences across Resogun, Contrast, Don’t Starve and now Outlast. PS Plus members are not only discovering great games on PS4, they’re also playing together online, logging a total of 172 million hours. It’s a great start, we’re delighted, but clearly we’ll continue to work on making PlayStation Plus the best value in gaming.

Engagement for PS4 is through the roof in general, though. More than 90 percent of PS4s in the US are connected online already. PS4 is clearly helping to define a broader cultural shift centered on social connections and sharing.

We’ve tapped into something special here with PS4 – and while it’s easy to look at the incredible topline demand, the engagement numbers are equally revealing. This is the beginning of something big.

PSB: How about the Share button? Are players embracing livestreaming, video capture and image sharing of gameplay?

JK: What people love about playing games are all of the great moments you experience; that’s what you remember long after you’ve played through a title. During PS4’s development, we knew we wanted to take that a step further by connecting players socially and emotionally, which is why we made it easy for gamers to celebritize themselves with Live from PlayStation. Livestreaming has really picked up steam, with 1.7 million gameplay broadcasts via Twitch and Ustream globally. Overall, the DualShock 4’s Share button is certainly getting a lot of action. More than 48 million “shares” have been captured globally, including millions of videos and photos shared via Facebook and Twitter, which proves that the desire to show off your accomplishments has become a cherished and regular behavior in gaming.

PSB: Exporting gameplay videos is a promising feature, but the editing process is currently a bit limited. Down the road, will there be more ways to add post-production to PS4 Share videos?

JK: We’re just scratching the surface of the potential of PS4. We know that there’s a lot we can do to expand the available toolset for editing, but I don’t have anything specific to announce right now. We’re constantly looking at ways to improve the system and are seriously evaluating various areas of enhancement for PS4.

PSB: On that note, PS4’s latest software update 1.6 brought long-awaited official headset compatibility. Do you have a sense of features that might be included in an upcoming update and approximately when they might happen?

JK: Nothing to share for now, but I can say that we are listening carefully to feedback from our fans. But on the headset point, I do hope that PS4 gamers are enjoying the new Gold Headset. It was developed specifically to emphasize the audio that developers place in their games – and because it’s from PlayStation, gamers know that this is how their games were meant to sound.

@Slick-T
You mentioned that the play/suspend won’t occur until 2016. Where did you get that information? I’m not saying you can’t be right, I just want to know if that date came from verified information, or are you making your own personal estimation.

@ hahpurr
i have a ps3, ps4, & vita. i play on all 3 if sony decides to put whatever on a system like a changeable background on the ps4 — ie colour / picture (static or moving); or have it tell u the weather outside based on ur registered psn account location. i personally can wait so Sony can integrate it properly, not everything is going to be in it 1st day. if it takes an extra 2 months to put netflix in the ps4 to get the app working properly i still have my ps3 to play it on. i rather have things put in the PlayStation gradually as the apps/games r ready, not put in all at once on day 1 & have nothing work.

– A return to equal functionality with the PS3 in terms of features updated through firmware, with an continued expansion of brand new, useful features added regularly.

– A wide variety of color options for the console itself and the controllers, and not limited to only limited edition console game bundles, which would also be nice. Black isn’t the only color that can be perceived by people in North America, and it was a feature offered years late for PS3.

– The availability of ALL first party accessories in ALL territories. I don’t know why this is an issue that needs to be addressed in the first place.

– Finally, a partnership with a major manufacturer of HDDs like Seagate or Western Digital, where we can get high performance, high-capacity HDDs or SSDs specially made for PS4, and made available at a super sweet discounted price.

Hey Prime and Duck boy, don’t reply lame fan boy excuses at me to defend your lover Sony. I have been gaming with sony since ps one, ps 2, ps3, ps vita and even had a ps4 and not anything was wrong with the console when returned it the next day to walmart. It did not impress me and. I have ps plus and played every plus and free to play game it had to offer and got screen tear on almost every one. That is pathetic. No features worth keeping it, my ps3’s have more features and my white vita I bought over a year ago. You wanna call me liar go to my main psn account called SLICK _ T and you’ll see my trophies date back till 2008 when trophies were implemented. 12 platinums and over 1,600 trophies so far. I game on sony and love my sony products and I own a xbox 360 and love it but I will voice my opinion and complaints weather you like it or not so don’t reply to me at all. I have no time for fan boy b u t t kissing noobs like you two.

If i want better features that Sony are being stubborn and lazy to implement i will complain about it till they cave in and give the features we deserve and been asking for. I have invested over 3 thousand dollars into psn since may 2007 to now and by god I have a right to complain. When my vita won’t allow me to have more than 100 games at a time on it I will complain. When I spend 400 bucks for a ps4 that does not do features my ps3 and vita does I will complain, when I buy a game on plus sale and it goes free 2 weeks to a month later on plus. I will complain when it happens a lot. When. I have well over 1,500 items in my download list to try and go through without a filter feature to sort through it and we have been on their back since day one in 2007 about this and ps4 still doesn’t have a sort feature for our downloads then by god Im going to complain. Its fan boys kissing sony’s b u t t and accepting their laziness to fix things is why were still without features to this day. Just be quiet and don’t waste my time with fan boy attacks. Go play barbie and shut up.

Don’t waste my time, I am the one that owns 4 ps3’s through out the house and its how Im always back in here when Morgan Haro or his team tries to shut me up as my main account is blocked from commenting on here. With a total 16 psn accounts that can fit on a single ps3 and I have 4 ps3’s through out my house and 64 times I can make a bogus psn account to get back on here and voice my opinion is what I will do. They won’t be rude and silence me. Its my right to voice my complaints. I earned it by the money Sony has got out of me for their software and products and they will listen and stop blocking me. I’ll go around as I’ve been doing every time and get more aggressive about it to. Before a noob ask again. I have 4 kids and a wife and thats why we have 4 ps3’s. I have a vita to. Use to have ps4 but returned it the very next day. Look in my trophies earned if you say I’m a liar. Psn SLICK _ T . Put it all together on the psn name. You can yell and cry for me to go to Microsoft all you want, I already did as I own a 360 to. Plan on buying xbox one when a bundle comes out. Ps4 is lame right now to get another purchase from me anytime soon.

When I have spent $2,405.02 off my Slick account from 2007 to now by god I will complain when I want. I’ve spent well over a thousand off another main psn account to. Thats not counting the disc game purchases and hardware of ps one, ps2. Ps3 and was a ps4. Sony cameras, big screen sony tvs and stereos as well. Walkmans as well over the years to. I earned my right to voice complaints! So you just sit back and deal with it. I’m a paying consumer thank you very much!

Oh and go ahead and send me hate messages to my ps3 and vita inbox. I’ll just report them and block you. So be stupid and fanboy all you want. Remember though… I have 4 ps3’s and a vita and over 64 chances to make sure your banned if you keep harassing me. You been warned before you decide to feel my inbox with hate fanboy messages!

As someone who purchased on day 1 I am still enjoying the PS4 greatly, even though some things i did with the PS3 have needed a bit of a work around (such as going to Youtube TV to watch youtube videos) the system has been great so far, the biggest thing I am waiting for right now is MP3 support, playing some of my old PS3 games lately I have realized just how often I used the ability to put MP3s into my games, Custom menu music, Custom entrance music in the WWE games. its such a small thing but it can really do alot to help become more immersed in the game you are playing.

Other than that I am just waiting for an announcement of the WWE channel app for PS4, and am hoping that will be available before 2/24

But honestly Sony you have really been pushing along well with the PS4 and i hope to see this continue into the future

I have tones of ps3 games that never screen tear like skyrim and yet all the free to play ps4 games have screen tearing. Its what ruins a game for me. With the power the ps4 is suppose to have we should never ever have a framerate slow down or ever ever ever see screen tearing and by god the ps4 FREE TO PLAY GAMES ALL HAVE SCREEN TEARING. War frame sceen tear and framerate issues. That retribution shooter free to play ps4 game… SCREEN TEAR everywhere you turn right across the screen. Its pathetic to have that on ps4 with its power they hype when a game like skyrim or infamous on ps3 never screen tears.

You wouldn’t know screen tear if it jumped up and bit you in the a**. Fan boy sitting their lying. I got lots of screen tear on my Sony HD tv a ton and yet many of my ps3 games are screen tear free. Don’t sit there telling me what I didn’t see and that their is no screen tearing. Google it and its complaining everywhere. I guess were all wrong and only your fan boy butt is right huh? Liar!

Ok lets just for the sake of the conversation say that there are screen tearing issues (I’ve never seen any) … Why would it be sony’s fault all th free 2 play games are 3rd party games ( Not made by sony )

LoL now your resorting to insults … Never said no one has ever had any screen tearing ever… I did however say i have not had any … I don’t believe screen tearing issues people may have had are occuring as much or often as you are making it out

Oh they have the issues its just they over look it and deal with it cause around launch and even today in most areas its hard to find a ps4 to exchange and you only get 2 weeks return policy at most department stores now. A month at bestbuy. 2 weeks at walmart and everyone has had their screen tearing ps4 longer than their return and exchange policy and they do not want to ship it to sony to wait months later for a refurbished unit all scratched up in return. They just deal with it. It shouldn’t be that way. It should never ever screen tear on any game ps4 plays period. 3rd party or not. Period! The power it has should do away with such issues period.

And again I say go buy a XBOX One and leave Sony behind if you don’t like what’s going on here. Jeez.

And stop acting like an angel every time you come back here on another account. You know damn well the reasons you’ve been banned and it’s not because you’re “speaking the truth”. It’s because you’ve harassed multiple people here on the blog, most aggressively through private messages which you are curiously discouraging now.

Just for everyone’s information, S_L_I_C_K-T has sent PMs to numerous PSN customers stating that he is a hacker from Anonymous, threatening to wipe out people’s accounts. He has made threats of violence against some of us, and sent pictures of guns pointed at the viewer, among other things. He has flooded people’s inboxes (including mine) with up to 20 messages at one time from his multiple alt accounts, all containing harassing messages.

And now he says don’t do it to him or he’ll have you banned… HA! The audacity…

Something that I would like to request in a future firmware update for the PS4 is the ability to pause and queue downloads. As the console starts to download updates automatically, it would be great to be able to pause a download if you want something else to get priority for downloading. The PS3 can do this, so it would be awesome if the PS4 could too please. Also the ability for the console to switch itself on at certain times to perform downloads, like you can with PS Plus on PS3 would be awesome too, thanks and keep up the hard work, really appreciated, and I love the fact the PS4 is outselling the XBOX One!

slick
i actually saw ur trophy list not really impressed i have 2972 trophies (9 platts) across 3 systems my 1st trophy is from GTA IV: OFF THE BOAT on 11-26-08 & try to game every day

going by ur ps4 trophies u didnt like the games so u returned the system & u got the system over a month AFTER the launch (12-31-13) & u played for bout an hr. I got mine on release day & havent had a problem with it. i have ONE psn account never been banned or caused problems. I have one ps3 / ps4 dnt need another 1, if u have 4 ps3’s u have to have several accounts cause psn only allows u to have 2 active ps3’s on an account.

if u want to complain talk directly to sony. I talk to sony all the time if i have a complaint or issue i talk directly to them to resolve the problem did u actually try to do that b4 returning it

Duckie I have 12 plats… Once you can get Starhawk plat in less than 2 weeks you let me know lol. Truck racer that just came out not long ago and I plat that in less than 3 days lets see you do that boy. Plat Nascar the game 2011 as well Mr thinks he’s skilled in just 9 plats to my 12. You have over 300 trophies more than me and 3 less plats lol. Get the Farcry 3 plat to while your at it. Try dirt 2 to lol. I have plats on ps3 and vita thank you very much. 10 on ps3 and 2 on vita. I’ve averaged 2 plats a year since 2009 to this year. What about you? Most plats in one year for me has been 4 platinums in 2010 alone. And 3 platinums in 2012. 2 platinums last year and so far 1 this year in truck racer that I plat in less than 3 days tops. Had a plat in 2009 and one in 2011 as well. Do that before running your mouth. Do you have almost 110 gold trophies to boot with your 9 platinums like I have with my 12. NO you don’t so just be quiet. Trying to say my trophies isn’t impressive compared to yours lmao. Thanks for the laugh man.

Also Prime, you are totally calling the kettle black man. If anyone takes the # 1 spot in this blog for harassing people its you. Every time someone post anything negative you just have to add your fanboy 2 cents in attacking them telling them to leave the blog, to shut up and go to Microsoft. What made you a wanna be boss in this blog huh? You best stop lying for one and 2.. You can shut the h*ll up boy. Go play with your barbies and go troll more websites with your sony defending and b u t t kissing little self. No one likes you here but your trolling hater friends like gamerzlimited. You and him should get a room if you catch my drift lol. Don’t even go there son trying to act as a victim on here. You are the biggest blog harasser on here. Everyone knows that. Every day people in these blogs complain about you so shut up little man.

Hey duckie here is a reminder course of my current trophy stats, 12 platinums, 106 golds, 394 silver and 2,107 bronze for a total 2,619 trophies and 89% into level 16. How is that NOT impressive compared to your trophy stats? Lmao. Psn SLICK _ T is my main account incase attackers view this one saying I have no such trophies. This account Im posting in this blog on here right now isn’t my main account. Its so I can post on here since the blog team blocked my main account from posting on here like they do to several more people. I have 10 friends on my friends list that also can’t post on here from their main plus accounts cause the blog hates constructive criticism and bans up a storm or blocks the comments from posting when they speak out the truth on certain matters. We can make bogus accounts as I’m teaching them. Can’t shut us up no matter how much you try and block us. Its rude silencing your consumers just because we may not praise you 24/7 like prime boy the fanboy

-YouTube app
-ability to upload/share videos on YouTube.
-DLNA media streaming support. Be able to turn off ps camera mic (especially when in an online game).
– Controller battery indicator should show up by pressing ps button, not only holding it (like on ps3).
-The ability to see how long ago a friend last logged in (like on ps3).

Slick, you’re ridiculous. Straight up. Your trophy collection is not impressive at all. Averaging 2 plats a year… dude, get out. Nobody cares. And even if anyone did, they’d laugh. If you knew any better, you’d know it’s nothing to brag about. I’m not even a big time trophy hunter (my profile absolutely pales in comparison to some of the more dedicated gamers out there) yet, my collection still destroys yours. I honestly think you’re just not very good at games. Maybe that’s why you take out your frustrations here on the blog? Who knows…

And the only people here who hate me are people like you. Luckily, your kind aren’t too great in number. You know, troublemakers who don’t like being put in their place. Everyone else is either neutral towards me or on my side, as evidenced by the numerous supportive messages I receive. But of course, you don’t see those things. If I didn’t decline 9 out of every 10 friend requests I receive, I’d have over 200 PSN “friends” by now. I win. Yay. Lame…

By the way, you’re really aiming low by saying I’m a “harasser”. I would never sink to the levels you do, sending people cowardly messages that threaten them with violence just because I may disagree with them, and I don’t flood peoples’ inboxes with multiple messages from 10 different accounts within minutes of each other saying I’m going to hack their accounts. That’s the kind of garbage only an absolute jackass such as yourself would pull. You really need to look up the word “harassment” and try to comprehend what the definition really means… and see who it really fits… look in the mirror, son…

slick…
the list of games u listed that u platted im not interested in. the games i play i want to play them. platting out every game i get isnt important. i dnt play idiot games like COD/ MW (to me the COD games only differ slightly with different maps & 1 or 2 new spotlighted items [cod ghost its a DOG] & theres no MASS story-line). the games i play space their games out at least 20 months, & there’s some level of a story line either through the game or though the several games in the series.

PS4 Nearly Doubles Xbox One Sales For January
this is from the Forbes web page

& ppl R saying that sony will have the console war won with in 2 yrs with over 5.1 mill ps4’s sold so far if production didnt slow it dwn there would be over 10. Ive noticed that in MS/XB articials they dnt mention playstation & the major lead that PS has over XB. XB just focuses on their product & not where they R stacked in the console market

Ps3: Needs a update as well, fix the ps4 controller problem on there, make it work with the ps3 better. I want use my ps4 controller on ps3 without keeping it plug in, also fix the message system problem. I don’t want see any message on my ps3 or ps4 after I delete them.

Ps4: Needs a big update, fix the home screen where it won’t lag sometimes, also fix where the games don’t have a problem loading couple times I had to take the disc out and back in to get it working. Trophies should be look offline as well, just like you can with ps3 and ps vita, the new update is great but headsets don’t work on party chat. One last thing fix the camera problems, when I got headset on and my camera plug in, my voice cuts in and out because of the camera, have a option to turn the camera off.

Prime and duckie both need to get a hotel room I swear lol. Prime just shut up. I mean flat out just shut up. Every thing you spew in excuses on here is always junk. You bring nothing positive to the table on here but always attacking those that have legit complaints. They are always complaining to sony not you. So you just keep that fanboy mouth shut cause they aren’t talking to YOU. This has nothing to do with YOU little boy. So keep your month shut and don’t harass a complainer. Shut your mouth if you have nothing to say other than attacking the complainers. You flat out attack ever complainer on here. Learn to mind your own business boy. Oh and for duckie you are lame. I took up for you on here and now you’re joining in on the attacks and sent me a friend invite lol. What a twisted lost boy you are to.

Oh and duckie you can give that a rest saying Im on here to get people to 360? Is that why I left 360 in may 2007 to go ps3 and been with ps3 since and spent well over 3 grand on psn along and I have a vita and 4 ps3’s and just bought a 360 last month and hadn’t been back to 360 since I left it in 2007 for ps3. I’m a plus member and been one on my main account SLICK _ T since day one it started up. I’m payed up till April 2016 for plus and you say Im trying to get people to go 360 lol. I could care less where you game. Are you that fan boy to think everything is a console war?. Grow up! I’m here to voice my opinion and complain when I need to. I earned that right with the money I’ve spent on sony. Over 3 grand on psn along from May 2007 to now. So be quiet and deal with my complaints, if you hate them ignore them. Its not directed to fan boys like you and prime anyways. Stop sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.

Thats how pathetic this blog is now. I can’t even put anything that is even close to S L I C K _ T on here all together or it will never post. Thats how bad I have hit the nerve of the blog team. Anything with my psn name on it never will post on here. Put my psn name all together anywhere in your message and watch how it will never go through unless its really spaced apart. Thats pathetic Im blocked that bad on here. Can’t even mention my psn on here either or it never post lol. Wow! I really pissed off the blog team man lmao.